N.Y. plan for fleet of Nissan taxis ruled legal

NEW YORK – New York’s plan for a new fleet of cabs from Nissan Motor Co. is legal, an appeals court ruled, overturning an earlier judgment that said the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission had overstepped its authority by requiring owners to buy a specific vehicle.

The so-called Taxi of Tomorrow program is a “legally appropriate response to the agency’s statutory obligation to produce a 21st century taxicab consistent with the broad interests and perspectives that the agency is charged with protecting,” Justice David B. Saxe wrote Tuesday for the appeals court in Manhattan.

Nissan won a contract in 2011 valued at $1 billion over 10 years to supply more than 15,000 minivans with sliding doors, more luggage space and air bags in the back, for the city’s taxi fleet. The commission in September 2012 designated the Nissan NV200 as the official “Taxi of Tomorrow” and required owners of medallions, which confer the right to operate yellow cabs in New York, to buy the $29,700 vehicles.

Taxi fleet operators sued the city in December 2012 seeking to block the requirement, and a judge halted the program five months later, saying it violated the administrative code because it didn’t allow medallion owners to buy hybrid vehicles. The city then revised the rules to let them buy hybrids until Nissan develops a hybrid version of the NV200.

The operators sued again in July, and a judge blocked the plan from going forward, saying the commission exceeded its authority under the city charter by requiring the purchase of a specific vehicle.

Nissan said in a statement it was pleased with the decision, which means it has exclusivity with respect to New York City’s non-hybrid taxi market. The company said it has been distributing the NV200s through dealers since October 2013.

“Given the specific NYC taxi research and development that Nissan conducted — including crash testing with the installed partition — we are confident that the Nissan NV200 taxi will provide a solution that is optimal in safety, comfort and convenience for passengers and drivers alike,” the automaker said in a statement.

Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Meera Joshi said in a statement that the city is reviewing the ruling in light of the potential for further appeal.

“Certainly, we are gratified by this latest decision upholding the TLC’s regulatory authority,” Joshi said.

Mayor Bill De Blasio, who received more than $200,000 in taxi-industry donations during his campaign, said before taking office that he opposed the plan because not all cabs would be wheelchair-accessible. The proposal calls for about 2,000 of the taxis to be fitted for disabled riders.

De Blasio said in a letter to the taxi commission in 2012, while he was the city’s public advocate, that it had selected “a bid that did not contain a plan to create jobs in New York City despite the large contract awarded to the company.” A spokesman for De Blasio said in October the mayor was evaluating the ruling blocking the proposal from going forward.

De Blasio in March named Joshi, who helped lead the Taxi of Tomorrow plan for the prior administration of Michael Bloomberg, to head the taxi commission. Joshi is a former TLC general counsel.

Officials wanted to give one carmaker an exclusive contract so the manufacturer would have an incentive to include passenger amenities and durability features while keeping the price low, former TLC commissioner David Yassky said in 2012. Taxis are now built by nine manufacturers, and the fleet is dominated by Ford Motor Co.’s Crown Victoria, which the company has stopped making.

The plan is also facing litigation in federal court in Manhattan, from disabled people and their advocates.